Cuttcak: Chauliganj police conducted a raid on a hotel in Sikharpur area of Odisha’s Cuttack early on Thursday and detained 32 individuals in connection with a large-scale cryptocurrency scam.
Speaking to media, Cuttack DCP Rishikesh Khilari said the raid was carried out on specific inputs about four persons being detained by a group, which checked in into the hotel at around 8 pm on Wednesday. “Following the search, 32 people were taken into custody. One among them is from Odisha while others are from West Bengal. Preliminary probe hinted at a cryptocurrency racket,” he said.
Khilari said that the four individuals were involved in a fraud under the guise of cryptocurrency trading and were hiding in Puri. “They were brought to the hotel in Cuttack by the investors from West Bengal, whom they had allegedly defrauded,” he said.
The DCP said that the main accused ran a crypto trading platform, ‘OTU World’, promising high returns to the investors. “When he was unable to refund money to the investors, he launched an investment platform, Econist, yesterday to hoodwink them,” he said.
Four luxury cars, 32 mobile phones and a crypto wallet device have been seized from them. “They will be forwarded to court after further verification and involvement details,” he said.
Two cases are likely to be registered —one for fraud in the name of cryptocurrency trading and another for abduction and holding people in the hotel, he said, adding that involvment of locals will also be verified.